ROBINSON, Charles (c.1732-1807), of Maxton, nr. Dover, Kent

Robinson as a boy served in the Royal Navy, but left to take up the law. In 1780 he was returned for Canterbury after a contest, and voted steadily against North. He supported Shelburne’s peace preliminaries, 18 Feb. 1783, voted for parliamentary reform both in 1783 and 1785, and opposed Fox’s East India bill, 27 Nov. 1783. He supported Pitt, but voted against him on Richmond’s fortifications plan, 27 Feb. 1786. Only two speeches by him are reported,Stockdale, vi. 435-7; viii. 367. both championing the interests of shopkeepers against hawkers and pedlars during the debates on Pitt’s shop tax. He did not stand in 1790.

He died 31 Mar. 1807.